3/1/2004

Wing Tip Molds Done

The wing tips are finally done, and they turned out great. This process takes a lot of time, but I am just thrilled with the results so far. Below are some shots of the progress of these two molds:

Finishing up on the sanding of the original plug parts. Ton of sanding here, to slowly expose the tape, so that when it's peeled up, you'll get the proper recessed panel lines and now corrugations that are in certain sections of the flying surfaces.

The plugs, jigged in place with their Formica fences in place.

Thanks to that wonderful droop in the wing tips, the fences need to follow the leading edge, which means bending them to shape.

At this point, PVA is down, paint is down, first layer of pure resin mixed with carbon, and lastly fillets have been put in with resin and cotton flock.

With half of the glass work down, now the balsa blocks go in.

Now onto the second half of the molds, which have been made up against the first halves, holes are drilled, and bolts put in. With the 2 mold halves securely bolted together, it's now time to trim all the excess glass from the mold edge.

Finally time to crack them open and see how they turned out.

The quality of transfer is excellent. Every line and corrugation is looking great. Surface is mirror smooth. So far so good....

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